


The Next Leap

by KatMay



Category: Zootopia (2016)
Genre: F/M, Slow Burn, undercover cop
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-07
Updated: 2020-07-07
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:01:16
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25133563
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KatMay/pseuds/KatMay
Summary: Judy goes undercover as a college student and learns some new things both in and out of class.
Relationships: Judy Hopps/Nick Wilde
Comments: 8
Kudos: 29





	The Next Leap

**Author's Note:**

> I had some fun re-imagining evolution to fit the Zootopia world.

“Today we will be continuing our lecture on mammalian evolution,” the professor said. He was an older male kangaroo with grey fur going white with age around the muzzle. Despite this, he had the body of a mammal who hit the gym regularly. The pale blue dress shirt he wore emphasized the the spread of his shoulders and the tapered leanness of his waist. Dark khaki pants did nothing to hide the potential of his haunches. 

Judy could certainly appreciate that potential; one pair of legs made for jumping was much like another. She glanced around the lecture hall and took note of the disproportionate number of young female kangaroos present. She certainly wasn’t the only one with an appreciative eye.

“On Tuesday, we covered the diversification of mammals at the beginning of the cenozoic era. Does anyone remember what period this was?”

Several students raised their paws. Judy had no idea what the answer was but then, she hadn’t attended the Tuesday class. She felt vaguely guilty about that. It was stupid because she wasn’t even a student let alone enrolled in this Introduction to Mammalian Biology course but there it was. She hoped the professor wasn’t the sort to call on students at random.

He chose a small brown cat in a middle row with her paw up. “Chelsea?”

“Paleogene,” she said confidently.

“That’s right. During this period, we know from fossil records that the majority of mammals were strictly quadrupeds with a limited ability to vocalize.”

The professor pressed a button on his laptop and the powerpoint presentation being projected at the front of the room changed to a new slide. Two pictures were displayed side by side: one showed the fossilized skeleton of a big cat and the next showed an artistic rendering of what Judy surmised was the same cat in the flesh. It was a male bengal tiger crouched on all fours. The artist had dressed the tiger in a small pair of shorts.

The artistic rendering was labeled with an arrow pointing to the tiger’s hip and shoulder. The description stated that this tiger could not stand upright due to a limited range of motion in the indicated joints.

“This narrower range of motion also applied to many other joints and muscles. This mammal couldn’t pronounce words or independently move the digits on his paws. He had no opposable dew claw meaning he couldn’t hold or make tools.”

The professor switched to the next slide. To Judy’s surprise, this slide featured a rabbit. 

The artistic rendering of the prehistoric rabbit showed her laying on her back so her belly was exposed. She was drawn in shorts like the tiger but no shirt. Instead of the two small mounds of breasts Judy was used to seeing in the mirror, this rabbit had four nipples running down either side of her bare torso. Somehow, this didn’t help alleviate Judy’s embarrassment at seeing a half naked rabbit displayed to a room full of other mammals. She sunk a little lower in her seat.

“Most female mammals also had rows of teats like you see in this image.” Someone giggled and the professor flicked an ear in irritation. “This is a biology class, ladies and gentleman. We are all adults so please demonstrate some maturity.”

Judy studied the image, seeing the odd shape of the rabbit’s legs more so than she’d noticed with the tiger. The neck was shorter too and the eyes—they were basically pointing in two different directions. That probably had to do with weirdly shaped skull. Honestly, if Judy had seen this bunny walking down the street, she’d have thought the other rabbit had a physical deformity. 

The professor moved past several more slides that discussed the physical differences of prehistoric mammals. Judy let her attention wander to the students as he spoke about dexterity and joint flexibility.

Some were taking notes while others, like her, were just listening to the lecture. From where she sat near the back, she could see one coyote playing a video game on his laptop.

A few seats over from the inattentive coyote was a group of four wolves. The two girls of the group looked like they might be Iberian with their dark brindle fur but Judy wasn’t always great at differentiating the ethnicities of other mammals. The two males were grey and white respectively. The grey looked scruffy and a little small for an adult Timberwolf while the white was very clearly an Arctic wolf. 

With pure white fur as far as Judy could see, he was model gorgeous—and she could see a lot of fur; the tank top he was wearing had arm holes cut nearly the length of his muscled torso. His blue eyes were lined in black with that perfect inner and outer wing that most mammals couldn’t achieve even with makeup. They shone across the room, drawing attention to his perfect cheekbones and chiseled muzzle-line.

The girl he was sitting next to leaned over and whispered something. The white wolf grinned and it was lopsided. It made him look boyish and a little sly, reminding Judy of a certain someone.

Judy took out her cellphone and typed a quick message.

_I am in the lecture hall with the suspect in sight._

She pressed send.

A new message popped up almost instantly. _We’re still waiting on the arrest warrant. Captain says stay close but don’t engage._

She sent a quick affirmative and was about to tuck her phone away again when another message came through. _Careful, Carrots. That wolf could eat you for breakfast._

Jerk, Judy thought. The pad of her dew claw danced over the screen. _Watch it! You’re going to get pulled in to a sensitivity seminar one of these days._

The response she got in return was a smiley face emoji with a lolling tongue. She rolled her eyes. When it seemed like there weren’t any more messages forthcoming, Judy slid her phone into the side pocket of her backpack and tuned back into the lecture.

“Anthropologists theorize that certain mammal species became more prolific and successful by forming close social groups. These groups were relatively small, ranging from eight to fifteen members, but in numbers there was safety. They hunted or foraged together, raised their young collectively, and defended one another from outsiders. 

“The great success of these mammal coalitions had a profound impact; it was suddenly evolutionarily beneficial to have a more social disposition, not only for the mammal species that had already started forming groups but for other species in the same ecosystem.

“For example, wolves and coyotes, two of the earliest examples group-forming species, were in direct competition for food and resources. A social group of five coyotes were able to defend a much larger territory than the same number of lone wolves because the wolves were also acting in opposition to one another. The coyotes hunted more successfully and their chances of survival increased. But in response to the coyotes’ success, wolves also began forming similar social groups.

“That isn’t to say the wolves considered the situation logically and decided to work together. That isn’t how these sorts of evolutionary changes happen. You have to consider the scale of time. It takes hundreds of generations for a trait to saturate a species. But it would only take a few wolves being born with the slightest inclination for cooperation for the trait to be passed down and magnified over time if it proved useful for survival.

“This didn’t just happen in predator species like in the example I just gave. Prey mammals also benefited from group behaviour. A group of deer was better able to defend against predators like wolves compared to a single deer, especially against a group of wolves working together.

“Social behaviour gradually became a prerequisite for any mammal species to survive and the key component of socialization is communication. The prevailing theory among anthropologists used to be that language developed as means to promote better survival. Sounds that were collectively agreed upon to mean a certain thing helped mammals work together for effectively. While this is certainly true, we are realizing that the root of language was more likely a means of social bonding. As groups got bigger, mammals needed a shorthand way of bonding in shorter amounts of time. Language was a way to communicate complicated ideas quickly. 

“This lead to another profound leap in evolution; deliberate and meaningful verbal communication across species.”

The professor clicked to the next slide. It showed an image of a cave painting, that much was clear. At first glance though, it was absolutely incomprehensible to Judy, just a collection of dark blobs and lines on a rock surface.

The red dot of a laser pointer circled a clump of figures. Judy squinted at them. Grasshoppers?

“This is a colony of rabbits.” 

Judy blinked. 

The professor smiled briefly. “At least, that is the prevailing theory. The prehistoric mammal who painted these was not the most talented but he or she created the earliest record of cross species communication that exists today.”

The laser pointer moved to a smaller figure separate from the supposed rabbits. The figure seemed to have a long tail but Judy was lost to decipher the rest. 

“This is a mouse. You see the body and tail here. The mouse is holding a bunch of berries out to the rabbits. What’s significant here is this line; do you see the way the mouse’s mouth is open and how there’s a squiggly line coming out? This is representing speech. The mouse is _talking_ to the rabbits.” The professor said this with a level of gravitas that indicated he expected his students to be impressed.

Judy glanced around the room but of the mammals paying attention, there seemed to be nothing more than dutiful attentiveness on their faces. Then the cat who’d answered the professor’s earlier question raised her paw again. She was a wildcat and therefore small for a felidae. She was wearing a beautiful green and turquoise dress that brought out the gold tones in her brindle fur. 

“Professor, how do you know the mouse is actually talking and not just making noise at the rabbits?” The cat had a light African accent that flavoured her confident tone.

“Excellent question! This drawing is actually part of a series that shows that this mouse is brokering a deal with the rabbits.” The professor went to the next slide. “In this next image, you can see that the rabbits accept the berries and also respond back in the same way.” Sure enough, there was a squiggle coming out of the lead rabbit’s mouth this time.

“Now,” the professor said, leaning back on his tail, “This sort of verbal communication between different prey species and different predator species became more and more common. However, it wasn’t until approximately 2400 BC that we have a written record of an accord struck between predator and prey society: the _Libra Pactum_ , a version of which still exists today as the basis for our basic mammalian rights.

“Unfortunately, this isn’t a history or sociology class so we’re not going to go into any more detail about the way society as we know it today came into being. However, be aware for the test of each pivotal event in our collective evolutionary history and how mammalian biology as a whole changed over time.” The professor glanced at his wrist watch. There was still five minutes of class time left. “Okay, people, I’m going to end it there.”

Immediately, the class erupted into chatter. The sound of shuffling bags and papers and the scraping of chairs added to the sudden noise.

“Remember this week’s online quiz is due by Friday!” the professor yelled. 

“See you next week, Professor Strongfoot,” one of the rushing students called back.

Judy scrambled to pull out her cellphone and then sling her backpack over her shoulders, seeing her query making quick headway toward the midsize exit.

She darted around and under students both large and small, calling a hurried, “Excuse me!” and “Bathroom!” as she went. 

A pair of elk taking their sweet time packing up their belongings were standing in the aisle blocking Judy’s path. Unfortunately, these two were both in skirts and Judy didn’t think they’d take kindly to some rabbit darting between their hooves. She glanced back the way she’d come but already the space was filling with other students trying to get to the exits.

There was only one way to go. Judy bunched her legs and sprang upwards, landing neatly on the desk behind the elk pair. “I really need to go!” she said as explanation to the room at large when she saw most of the students—and the professor—staring at her like she was a crazy person. “Er, womanly emergency!”

That earned her some startled blinks. Judy, feeling foolishly conspicuous, bounded to the next desk and then to the open floor. She took off running.

As she was passing through the door, she heard someone behind her say, “Is she even in this class?”

Well, there went her cover.


End file.
